At the end, as Olivia Newton John sang “Xanadu” over a seriously amped-up beat, the crowd just couldn’t wait to be on the runway. They thronged the parquet of Southwark Cathedral–a place of worship that has surely seen such frenzied devotion as this—while Julien Macdonald, Gabriela Gonzalez, and their models were still doing their final circuit.

The show was perfectly calibrated to get those guests on their feet and whooping. Before it began, the music was pumping and the cocktails powerful. For those who were not under the influence, there was the intoxicating proximity to influencers: Photographers jostled to shoot Lottie Moss, Sabrina Elba, Munroe Bergdorf, Victoria Hervey, Hana Cross, Ed Westwick, Mary Charteris, and many others. This whetted the appetite. However, the most potent ingredient of all in Macdonald’s hot-show recipe was, of course, the clothes.

Since the withdrawal of Roberto Cavalli from fashion, there is arguably nobody who produces such unabashedly uncut “glamour” as Julien Macdonald. There is Balmain, and there is Versace, of course, but va-va-voom is just part of their arsenals; with Macdonald it is everything.

Gabriela Gonzalez, who shared the billing for this collection and walked the runway with him, is a Mexico City–based horse breeder, socialite, and Macdonald customer with whom he has been friends for five years. As he explained on a visit to his studio before the show: “Gabriela said it was her dream to do this, and I thought, Why not? I’ll only ever do it once.” The occasional pastel look, normally outside of Macdonald’s spectrum, was included for Gonzalez, and he said he envisioned all of the looks with her in mind. The marble-print resort-meets-swimwear that was cut in among the main collection added a much-appreciated-by-the-audience element of male cleavage to the mix.